


Schöner Moment

by StarWinning



Category: Zombies Run!
Genre: 5am, F/M, No Spoilers, Season 1, unrestrained summer fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:47:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26142817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarWinning/pseuds/StarWinning
Summary: Just some light 5am summer fluff and a prelude to Supply Run and A Voice in the Dark.Also, I just got enough supplies to build a park - yay^^
Relationships: Runner Five/Sam Yao
Kudos: 8





	Schöner Moment

Convincing Janine to expand Abel Township’s borders took some time. More than once she had explained to them what a strenuous endeavour each expansion was. Besides keeping up with their regular supply runs, it required them to not only physically move and extend the outer walls, the entire infrastructure would have to be improved and new wiring and cameras would have to be adde which meant even more supply runs for everyone.

What the runners needed, was a plan. A meticulous one. The more meticulous, the better. 

They knew from earlier scouting missions that the parkland surrounding a small pond just outside Abel was brimming with wild berries. Come autumn, it would provide them with mushrooms and chestnuts - without the risk of being surprised out in the open by a pack of Zombs. Sam had made use of some of his Rofflenet contacts to find out more about storing easily perishable food over longer periods of time, Maxine taught them the health benefits the different vitamins and minerals would bring and in the end Evan was the one who got to present their plan to Janine – being the head of runners had to have some kind of pull, right?! Janine finally caved when the runners explained to her that this expansion wouldn’t necessarily be about cramming more people into the township. First and foremost, it was supposed to give the people already living at Abel a quiet place to calm down from all the trauma they had suffered through. If there was one thing Janine understood, it was the desire for some peace and quiet every once in a while. In the end it had really been a team effort, and they had used every trick in the book.

Over two weeks of inching closer and closer they finally managed to bridge the distance to the small pond that used to be so close and yet too far for a short walk, a rather pathetic picnic or just a nap under one of the tall willow, birch and chestnut trees surrounding it.

Yet a week after construction had finished and the last crawlers been taken care of, most of Abel’s citizens were still sceptical of the place, so Five had the area to herself, sitting comfortably under one of the willows with her back against the trunk. She was already in her running gear – her bright pink magenta shoes easily visible from afar, a flowy white top sporting her number, matching sports bra and black shorts – basically the only things remotely bearable in the early afternoon heat. The sound of steps from behind her let her look up, her hand immediately feeling for something to defend herself with. If push came to shove, the water bottle she had brought would have to do. The steps were too regular for a Zomb though – no dragged limbs, no moaning, and her posture relaxed.

“I didn’t mean to sneak up on you, sorry. Janine’s been looking for you.”

Sam pushed his bangs back and shielded his eyes from the sun, a few strands stubbornly clinging to his forehead. He wasn’t wearing his orange sweater, just a dark green t-shirt and cargo shorts. No surprise though, considering the temperature in the comms shack was probably close to boiling at this time of day.

“Your electrical supply run has been pushed to tomorrow”, he continued, “In the early evening as well. Apparently, we don’t want to lose any of our runners to heatstroke. Or, you know, the guy sitting in a corrugated iron hut.” 

“Thank god”, she responded with a sigh, “I really wasn’t looking forward to this one”

“Yeah, one might think Janine is getting attached to us - don't tell her I said that!”, he looked around, “I’ve never been here before. It’s quite nice, isn’t it? You guys did an awesome job, clearing out the area.”

“It’s one of my favourite places to be honest. Don’t get me wrong, I love how welcoming everyone has been lately, but you’re just never quite alone inside the camp. Wherever you go there’s just always _someone_! When I come here, I feel like I can finally breathe again.”, she said with a certain sense of frustration, creating this awkward moment where they just looked at each other. Sam already half crouched down, half standing, looking like a kicked puppy and Five processing what exactly she had just said.

“This wasn’t supposed to be some backhanded comment or something, I swear!”, she added quickly and patted next to herself on the grass, “Unless you have stuff- ”, but Sam had plopped down next to her before she could even finish the sentence, “- to do.”

“So, what are we doing?”, he said, bringing in his legs to rest his arms on his knees.

“Nothing, really. I called dips on the new book I found, but so far I’ve been mostly watching the duckies.”

“You call them duckies?”, he repeated with a grin.

“It’s a word, right? Something that people actually use?!”

“It is. It’s just not one I’d have expected from you.” At the sight of her furrowed eyebrows and wrinkled forehead he explained further: “You seem like you pick your words very carefully, almost like Janine. Very straight-forward, but always polite and proper?”

“Not sure this is a compliment.”, she said with a snort, her expression relaxing, “I understand most colloquialisms – at least I hope I do- they are just not part of my active vocabulary. So, if I tend to sound like an English Textbook, that’s why.”

“We are so going to change that.”

“I’m-”, she hesitated, then grinned, “Chuffed to bits?”

“Chuffed to bits.”

“You know, I've been spending so much time here, it doesn't feel quite right to refer to them as ducks. Like, ‘a duck’ is something I’d eat – I wouldn’t want to eat them!”, she nodded towards the pond, “Therefore, they became duckies.” Five uncrossed her legs and mirrored his position, resting her arms on her knees.

“We could name them? I have a strict policy against eating things I’ve named.”

Five took a moment to mull over his suggestion.

“I don’t think we are on a first name basis yet and just making up random names sounds quite rude, doesn’t it?!

The sincere look on her face, half smiling, eyebrows raised, mixed with the whimsy of the conversation finally got to Sam and he burst into laughter with Five quickly joining him.

It was the first time Sam actually looked at her. Of course, he would have been able to give her description, but it wouldn’t have gone beyond the basics: ash blonde hair, blueish eyes, maybe slightly smaller than him. Definitely smaller than him. Even if it was just slightly. Rather, it was almost like he saw her as a person for the first time, not just the new Runner. The replacement. He felt a pang of guilt for that. She had risked a lot for him in contacting Frances. For him and Alice. Alice’s memory, he corrected himself.

She gave him another toothy smile then looked back towards the ducks. On the rare occasion she shared it with someone she had a bright and open smile. Maybe it was out of guilt that he swore to himself to remember as much details about this day as he could. Yeah, he wanted to remember her with that smile.

“I like your hair. Makes your face look more open or something.”

Five touched the hair pins that held her fringe back, then checked whether the knot in the back of her head was still in place.

“Thank you. It makes the heat a bit more bearable than the good old ponytail. The only benefit of Mcgivering my way through the apocalypse with little more than a hair donut, a couple of hair ties and bobby pins.”

“That’s all you had left?! Add a pen and a piece of gum and you might be on to something there but without the pen – I’m not sure!”

“I had an overnight bag on the helicopter – who knows what happened to it. Nothing really useful in it, but at least it had pens. I mean, I only came to Newcastle on a business trip – 5 days of meetings in the morning, a pint and good food in the evening. That was the plan! I might have packed differently if I had known what to expect!”

“I think we can all agree on that one.” Neither of them knew how to continue after that so they sat in silence for a while, watching the ducks paddle around with not a care in the world.

“Glad you stayed”, Five whispered and leaned in to bump her upper body against his.

“Me too”, he responded in a low voice and bumped her back. His gaze fell upon the bright red hardcover book in her lap. “What’s it about?”

“A Scifi YA novel. Apparently, it’s a retelling of our history if we had discovered alien life in 2007. The main character has two dogs so we’re off to a good start.”

“Man, imagine the possibilities if we had gotten aliens instead of Zombies!”

“And then get stuck in 'Alien' or 'Predator'? Maybe start with one and progress to the next franchise Or it’s something like The Mist – same mess, but less vision! In that case I'd rather stay here!”

“You’re just gonna love autumn here, believe me. But hear me out: what if they aren’t hostile?! Like ET or Transformers? How awesome would that be?! Getting our own Able Township Transformer?!"

"Okay, I see your point, but I'm still not convinced."

"I'm taking my chances at this point! Plus, we’ve got a great team together, don’t you think?” This time it was Sam who nudged her knee with his.

“That we do”, she responded with a huff and turned her head towards him. When she met his gaze something new happened. Something so dangerously warm and fuzzy, it almost made her flinch. Sam was the kind of person one just couldn’t dislike and Five wasn't an exception to that. He was easy to get along with and a dork. A 100% certified, good lad. Since his breakdown however she had been treading carefully around him. ‘Mind the gap’, she could hear a familiar, artificial voice in her head. A heedless step and someone might get hurt. Again.

“Only one way to find out”, she emphasised by opening the book and gave Sam a quick rundown of the story so far, the characters she had met and of course the two dogs. One had to focus on the important things these days. Sam scooted closer, their shoulders only a breath apart, heads stuck together.

Five had feared that it might be awkward to share a book like this - she remembered it being awkward in school. Maybe it was a school thing, like so many things. With Sam it was comfortable. So comfortable that Five’s eyelids began to feel heavy after a while. She became conscious of every blink, resting her eyes for just a second longer than she usually did between the sentences. Just a moment longer, still convincing herself that she was just resting her eyes. Then a heartbeat longer, until she dozed off.

Sam didn't notice at first. The story was just picking up the pace and he was too occupied wondering about who had broken into the family home. Or was it rather _what_? Five took unusually long to get to the end of the page and her breathing was suspiciously steady. With a cocked eyebrow he craned his neck to get a better look at her face. For a split-second an image flashed before his eyes. Her head resting against his shoulder, his head resting on her and his heart skipped a beat. He leaned back against the tree trunk, exhaled deeply and balled his fist to suppress the slight tremble in his hands. Sam knew it sounded cliched but he didn't expect to feel like this ever again. At the very least not so soon. Then again, time past differently these days. What felt like 10 months had in reality only been 10 weeks. He stretched out his legs and wiggled his toes, then glanced at her sideways and smiled. The smile turned into a grin. He was proud that Five felt save enough around him to let her guard down, but he wished he had a camera to commemorate the moment. Who knew when they would get another one like this - for all he knew they could be heading into a typical cats and dogs British summer and everyone would be going back to their old schedule. And what that right now just meant, he'd figure it out. Sooner or later. These days hopefully sooner than later.

A soft thump let him look up. Five's hand had slipped and the book fallen shut. It must have been new when Five had found it. In pristine condition, the spine unbroken, it was prone to do so. Sam took it gently from her and skimmed through the pages to find where they were. He patted his pockets for something he could use as a makeshift bookmark - all he could find was an old Curly Wurly wrapper. He knew exactly what Janine would have to say about that, so he shook it out extra carefully to avoid chocolate stains on the pages. Little did he know that it would stay Five’s bookmark of choice for a very long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Title song: https://open.spotify.com/track/5Z8CDRm39im1PM8KweQNmg
> 
> Say hi on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/anothermeansofprocrastination :)


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